1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of integrated circuits. More particularly, this invention relates to integrated circuits having a transaction master and a transaction slave between which data transfer operations are performed including the transfer of control signals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to provide integrated circuits Including one or more transaction masters and one or more transaction slaves. These transaction masters and transaction slaves communicate so as to exchange data via buses and/or interconnects operating in accordance with a communication protocol. An example of such systems are those built in accordance with the AMBA specification developed by ARM Limited of Cambridge, England. In such integrated circuits, a transaction master generates a transaction request which is sent to a transaction slave in respect of a data transfer operation to be performed between the transaction master and the transaction slave. The transaction slave generates a transaction response and included within this transaction response is a transfer-complete signal indicating completion of the data transfer operation. As an example, if the transaction to be performed is a write of data from the transaction master to the transaction slave, then the transaction response sent by the transaction slave back to the transaction master includes a write acknowledgement signal indicating that the write transfer has been (or will be) completed by the transaction slave. If the data transfer is a read of data from the transaction slave to the transaction master, then the transfer response from the transaction slave to the transaction master includes a last word signal indicative of a last data word of the one or more data words being read from the transaction slave to the transaction master. The transaction master will accordingly be informed that the transaction is complete.